CCP Ep. #176: Vulnicura by Björk

Welcome to the first episode of 2016! Join us as we kick off the new year with a new microphone and Björk’s torrid divorce album, Vulnicura, released early last year. Afterwards, we dive into some more heavy material concerning music at large: how easy it is to grow “out of touch”, internet marketing, and postcapitalism! Should be a fun year…

Hey there! It is I, the mysterious Mark H. Sorry, that it’s taken so long for me to respond (just over a year!). I have a terrible tendency of putting things off to the point of not doing anything, and that I didn’t really have much to say other than great job. I really enjoyed your analysis of Black Messiah, and have been really flattered by your response to my e-mail, just as you were probably flattered by my e-mail itself. Your review almost made me decide to check out the 1994 Brendan Fraser comedy, With Honors. Almost!

Anyways, I’m tempted to send you another album request in the near future. Throughout last year many albums came to my attention as possible candidates, but I needed to refrain myself from sending you requests, so that I wouldn’t be a needy fan, hogging the requests all to myself. So now I have a list of close to ten possible candidates so I need to whittle it down some more. And they range from albums that I really enjoyed, to albums that I think you might really enjoy, to albums that were really hyped but I just did not get and am trying to figure out if I’m missing something, to albums that I felt a little disappointed in but possibly only due to my familiarity with the artists’ prior work. There’s a good chance I’ll just send you something and not tell you where it falls.

The mysterious Mark H! Glad to hear from you and no worries on the delay. I think it was eps. 173 & 175 (Surf by Donnie Trumpet & the Year in Review) that we threw you a shout-out… and indeed, the long-shot paid off! Hope your 2015 was splendid. As to the album requests, we’ve accepted two requests from a few previous listeners, so we’d be glad to accept another! (Also, your instincts serve you well — don’t tell us where it falls on your radar! If we can scratch more heads or induce more cringes, let’s let the album decide!)

Finally, speaking to the ’94 film ‘With Honors’, you should absolutely check it out! It’s really a very underrated film, and much more substantive than it lets on. Anyway, I remember comparing the music in the library scene to the opening 20 seconds of Black Messiah‘s third track, “Charade”. And in retrospect, well… they’re nothing alike. But I still FEEL the same, for whatever that’s worth. Here’s the scene (just the first minute):